The San Diego Film Critics Society held their annual awards luncheon on February 24, 2009 at the Prado Restaurant in beautiful Balboa Park in San Diego, California. On hand were the SDFCS members, invited quests and VIPS. Accepting his SDFCS award for Best Production for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was Donald Graham Burt, who won the Academy Award for Achievement in Art Direction just two days earlier. Burt attended the awards with his wife, Yan, a former independent filmmaker. Burt addressed the group and spoke about his methods for creating the look of Button, what he liked about the film and how much he enjoys working with David Fincher, the director of the movie.

Also honored at the luncheon was Destin Cretton, a San Diego film student and Jury Prize winner for Best Short Film at Sundance. Destin spoke about his efforts to promote his film, Short Term 12, and the next film he is working on.

The Critics’ Kyle Counts Award was given to the San Diego Library in support of their film program. Lynn Whitehouse and her assistant Ralph DeLauro, were on hand from the Library to accept their awards.

Slumdog Millionaire was voted Best Film of 2008 by the San Diego Film Critics Society on December 15th. The drama concerning a young man’s epic upbringing in bustling Mumbai earned the nod over runner-up The Dark Knight. The critics, comprising print, television, radio and Internet critics working in San Diego County, chose Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle as Best Director.

Kate Winslet, playing a former German prison guard who engages in an affair with a younger man in the drama The Reader, was voted Best Actress. The critics chose Mickey Rourke as Best Actor for his work as a washed-up athlete making a desperate comeback attempt in The Wrestler. Marisa Tomei, playing the equally desperate stripper and single mother who befriends Rourke’s character in The Wrestler, was voted Best Supporting Actress. The late Heath Ledger was honored for his kinetic work as the Joker in The Dark Knight, earning the Best Supporting Actor award.

The critics gave the Best Original Screenplay award to Tom McCarthy for The Visitor, while honoring Simon Beaufoy for Best Adapted Screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire, working from Vikas Swarup’s novel.

In what might be called the year of the vampire, the critics voted the Swedish vampire drama Let the Right One In as Best Foreign Language Film. Man on Wire was chosen as Best Documentary. Wall-E was voted Best Animated Film.

Anthony Dod Mantle was honored for Best Cinematography for his work on Slumdog Millionaire, while Donald Graham Burt won Best Production Design honors for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The critics chose Chris Dickens and his work on Slumdog Millionaire for Best Editing. A.R. Rahman won for Best Score for Slumdog Millionaire.

The cast of Frost/Nixon was honored for Best Ensemble Performance. The critics also honored Richard Jenkins for Body of Work for 2008, citing his performances in The Visitor, Burn After Reading, Step Brothers and The Tale of Desperaux.

The San Diego Film Critics Society chose the film program at the San Diego Central Library for its annual Kyle Counts Award, named for the late San Diego film critic. The film program was honored for its outstanding contribution to film education and its commitment to eclectic and excellent free public film programs.

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San Diego Film Critics Society and the San Diego’s Women’s History Museum and Educational Center present a benefit screening of Iron Jawed Angels starring Hilary Swank, Julia Ormond and Patrick Dempsey.

When: 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008

Where: Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park, San Diego 

Tickets: Suggested donation $10; available at the door.

Please make reservations at filmclub@kpbs.org

The benefit includes comments from local dignitaries and celebrates Women’s Equality Day, the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The film reenacts the story of the defiant young activists who risked their lives to help American women earn the right to vote. As shown in the film, this battle was hard-fought over a significant period of time. Women were fined, jailed, force-fed and vilified, because they pursued the same rights as men. Hilary Swank and Frances O’ Connor artfully portray Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. During the long battle of the movement, Paul, on day 22 of her prison hunger strike, had doctors brutally force a tube into her nose and down her throat, pouring liquids into her stomach, three times a day for three weeks. Despite the pain and illness this caused, Alice refused to end the hunger strike. One physician reported: “[She has] a spirit like Joan of Arc, and it is useless to try to change it. She will die but she will never give up.”

Directed by Katja von Garnier, the movie also stars Anjelica Huston, Julia Ormond, Frances O’Connor, Lois Smith and Patrick Dempsey among other credible actors. The film won a Cinematography award, Golden Globe, was for nominated for five Emmys, other awards and a Humanitas Prize.

Although Congress passed the law in 1919, amending the Constitution required ratification by at least two-thirds of the states. On August 26th, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, and women officially won the right to vote. The Women’s History Museum celebrates Women’s Equality each year with a variety of events. On Sat., August 23 there will be a Suffrage March across the bridge in Balboa Park, followed by a Suffrage Ball with dancing, food, historic reenactments and a “voting” theme.

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